Weeding is best done when the plants are small.[BusinessInsider] Relatives of Osama bin Laden, the Qaeda leader behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, spoke out in an interview with The Guardian published Friday about their family's dark legacy ‐ and they suggested that the family's involvement with terrorism hadn't ended with bin Laden's 2011 death.
As expected.
Living sheltered lives as a prominent but controversial family in their native Saudi Arabia, several of the family members opened up about bin Laden's childhood and his eventual transformation into one of the most notorious figures in recent history.
He was surrounded by Islamists and did what was expected. Only he had tons of money and family business experience. Otherwise he'd have been shuffling around in sandals and a turban with an AK-47 strapped across his back.
But while bin Laden's career as a terrorist and head of Al Qaeda came to an end at the hands of US Navy SEALs in a midnight raid on his hideout in Pakistan, his militancy seems to have taken root in his youngest child.
As expected given the culture he grew up in. Couldn't possibly have been his father's fault. That would be dishonorable. Gotta double down on it. Winner decides who was right until loser's kids get another chance to redefine "right".
Bin Laden's family believes his youngest son, Hamza, has followed in his father's footsteps by traveling to Afghanistan, where the US, Afghanistan's national army, and NATO have been locked in a brutal war with Islamic militants since shortly after the Twin Towers were destroyed.
Only Hamza has no money. So he will end up shuffling around in sandals and a bigger turban from command cave to command cave. Others will carry the AK-47 for him.
Hamza, officially designated a terrorist by the US, apparently took his family by surprise with an endorsement of militant Islam.
We were all shocked!
"We thought everyone was over this," Hassan bin Laden, an uncle of Hamza, told The Guardian.
I guess that's what you have to say. Mind if I interview Osama's widows?
"Then the next thing I knew, Hamza was saying, 'I am going to avenge my father.' I don't want to go through that again. If Hamza was in front of me now, I would tell him: 'God guide you. Think twice about what you are doing. Don't retake the steps of your father. You are entering horrible parts of your soul.'"
Maybe change the mosque he goes to.
After the September 11 attacks, some members of bin Laden's family remained in touch while others led a quiet life under the supervision of the Saudi government and international intelligence agencies.
One even went on to model for Playboy. I believe we can say she's cured.
Many of the bin Ladens have sought to put their history behind them by avoiding media and politics, but Hamza's apparent support of his father's ideas suggests Osama bin Laden's embracing of terrorism may have come back to haunt them.
Don't fuss about it. He will be taken care of by professionals.
